Moonflower Luna and Neville
by simplyik
Summary: Luna and Neville at a clock tower one night. Watching the bloom of a moonflower.


Moonflower

The night that day was calm and serene. No disturbances, no noise. Nor were there any death eaters roaming about Hogwarts' territory. Just the melody of snores and the rhythmic breathing of the students sound asleep. However, not all students were in their bed, snoozing. Looking at his watch, Neville got up from his bed and quickly put on his open-toed shoes along with his school robes over his pink and white striped pyjamas. Softly as well as swiftly, he made his way out of the Gryffindor common room and upstairs to the Clock Tower. He could hardly wait his anticipation of watching the Moonflower that blooms once every 10 years only in midnight. This was one event Neville does not need a Remembrall to remind him of it. He had kept the plant growing at the Clock Tower to prevent any disturbances. Finally he had reached the tower and glanced his watch again. With 15 minutes to spare before the clock strikes midnight, he sat there and decided to enjoy the quiet moment to gaze at the starry night.

As he lay there, counting the infinite stars above it, he suddenly heard a shuffling behind him. Swiftly, he turned around, his eyebrow furrowed. His heart thumping loudly in his chest. There was silence again and he took it that maybe it had been a mouse or a small harmless creature crawling about. As he was about to resume his gaze to the sky, the shuffling sound came about again, only louder as if it was nearer. Not only that, Neville also heard faint footsteps drawing closer and closer to him. Neville's eyes darted from left to right, trying to define whose footsteps was it. Neville was already drawing out his wand from under his robes. The footsteps were now loud and clear and Neville could see a shadowy figure coming close. The frightened Gryffindor gulped, awaiting his horror.

"Luna?" The confused young man was very surprised to see his young odd friend who had been the frightening shadowy figure.

The girl, named Luna, with straggly, dirty blonde hair, was dressed in a unique but somehow a bit bizarre pattern of turquoise-coloured three-headed sheep for a nightdress that had a very geometric cutting. Even her bunny slippers she was wearing were a bit odd, if it was even a bunny. It looked like more like crossbreed between a bunny and crocodile to Neville. The animal had the ears, the cute round eyes and the long whiskers of a bunny but it had a long snout of the crocodile but with only two-buck teeth at the front.

"Luna!" Neville called out her name again but louder.

The odd girl, however, did not respond. She walked on past Neville as if she did not see him there. Neville soon found out why she did not respond. Her eyes were closed and it appeared that she had been sleep walking all the way from the Ravenclaw common room to up here. Before she could harm herself by wandering somewhere else, he quickly grabbed the sleepwalker by the shoulders and shook her body, attempting to wake her up.

" Luna, Luna…Wake up. Wake up, Luna! Luna Lovegood!"

The dazed girl finally open her eyes and blinked. Her protuberant silvery grey eyes, stare straight into Neville's eyes, as though trying to idenitfy who he is or still recovering from her sleeping state. The shy boy grew uncomfortable of this and he shook Luna again making sure she was wide-awake…then again, Luna had never been fully awake.

"Neville…" She finally voiced out, her voice as dreamy as it had always been. "Is it training session already?(referring to DA)"

"What? No, Luna. You're…We're in the clock tower in 've been sleep walking."

" The clock tower? Oh my, I heard there are lot of wrackspurts zooming around. They're invisible, you know. That's why most people don't believe they exist. They fly into your ears and make your brain feel fuzzy." Luna explained, ignoring the fact that she had been sleep walking.

"Wrack-what? Rack-Wrack Burps?" Neville stutter, confused.

"Wrackspurts." Luna corrected him. "Come on, Neville…I don't want us to get our brains all fuzzy-" Luna said as she grabbed Neville by the hand and began walking towards the stairs.

"No, wait. Luna, I came hear to watch my Moonflower bloom- Oh my gosh! My Moonflower!" Neville frantically break free from Luna's grip, look at his watch, almost forgetting that it was almost time for the flowers to bloom.

The frantic boy whirled around just in time, to anticipate the magnificent bloom of this majestic Moonflower. He walked closer to it, his eyes bulging in delight. Luna followed after him, curious to see this 'Moonflower' Neville had mentioned.

Luna was confused at first. It was not even a flower, but a tiny boring grey bud, that was about to bloom. Most people would have expected that even when fully bloomed, it would have still turned out an unintersting ugly flower. However, what Luna saw surprised her. The bud begins to unravels each of its petals, glowing brighter than the shining crescent moon and the stars against the dark blue sky. Finally, the last petal was revealed and the flower looked almost 10 times more huge than the teensy weensy bud Luna had saw. Each petal was unique and beautiful in its colours and pattern but all was shimmering with the shiniest glitter you could ever seen. The unique and different design of each petal seemed to potray a fantasy fairytale. Overall, the flower was so beautiful that no words could describe it. Neville and Luna watched this once-in-a-lifetime event with astonishment.

" It's sobeautiful…I've never seen quite a flower before" came her soft melodic voice suddenly.

"In the olden times, people said that when you see the bloom of a Moonflower, all your wishes will come true." Neville informed Luna, without tearing his gaze from the flower.

"Oh, really? That's nice," said Luna as she began to close her eyes and clasped her hands together, as if making a slient wish.

Finally, its time of bloom ends and a new life begins for this flower as one by one, slowly, the petal wrapped each other once again. The stunning flower which both of them has seen just a moment before, now forms into the same little dull bud.

Neville heaved a sigh. "Well, it's over now. But I'm glad I got to watch its bloom-"

Neville paused when he face Luna and realised that she still had her eyes closed and palms together, her lips moving up and down quickly as if she was chanting a spell.

"Luna, Luna…It's over. Y-you can stop wishing now." Neville placed his hand on Luna's shoulder and shook it gently.

Luna blinked her eyes open. Her expression was shock, bewildered.

"Over? Where did the flower go?" She cried.

"Oh, well you see, Luna, It only blooms for a certain time in midnight. And the moonflower only blooms once every 10 years."

"10 years? Well, that's a very long time."

"Yeah it is…the first time I watch its bloom, was with my grandmother when I was about 6 years old." Neville recalled the memories where he used to sit by the window with his grandmother, waiting for the flower to reveal its beauty.

Neville had taken care of the flower since he was 4 years old. When he first went to Hogwarts for his first year, he left it at home as he felt it was too fragile and special to bring it with him. Only when he was in his forth year, had he decided he was ready to take care of it himself without his grandmother's help. However, he did not tell anyone about the special flower. Not even his closest friend, Harry.

"This moonflower. It must be very special to you" Luna said dreamily, smiling as she face Neville.

"Huh? O-Oh…Yes, Very special." Neville snapped into reality. "It's been taken care by my family for generations. The flower must have been about 500 years old by now..."He continued.

"500 years old. Wow…" She said in a low whisper. Her twinkling eyes that were dazzled by the flower before, now became confused. "It's funny, isn't it? Now, it looks like a small timid little bud, awaiting its time to bloom, preparing for the real world and the unknown. Most people would have thought this timid little bud would never be like the other beautiful flowers. But the fact is, while the others flowers bloom and grow bigger, out shadowing this ugly bud; it prepares and waits for the right moment. When its time comes, it becomes the most beautiful and outstanding flower.. And then, it turns into the timid little bud again, as if it is reborn again. And the cycle continues… " She expressed her view in a way which seemed very poetic and inspiring. "this flower sort of acts like professor dumbledore's phoenix, isn't it? It's like it could never die…"

" Wow… I never thought of it that way…" Neville nodded his head slightly, showing a thoughtful expression. " Anyway, Luna. Thank you, really… I never thoug- It's quite wonderful to have someone, other than Gran, to watch this special occasion with me…I really enjoyed it" Neville blushed as Luna stared at him.

" I enjoyed it very much too! It's just too bad, though, that it only blooms for a certain time. And I haven't even finished wishing yet…" Luna said as a matter of fact. Her lips curled.

"That must have been a long wishing list!" Neville chuckled.

"Oh! Of course! It's very rare that you find a flower that grants your wishes. "

Neville let out a short laugh. He somehow find it quite amusing seeing this odd blonde being so gullible." You really believe in all those stuff, Luna?"

"You don't?" Luna's faint eyebrows furrowed.

Neville shook his head.

Luna's expression changed from hopeful to disappointment.

" It doesn't hurt to believe in some things and keep an open mind, Neville." She wagged a finger at him and said in a very motherly tone.

"What do you wish for anyway?" Neville asked out of curiosity.

"Neville! I can't tell you my wishes! Hasn't anybody told you that wishes are meant to be a secret?" Luna smiled, patting Neville's nose, as she started prancing gracefully towards the stairs.

"Why?" Neville asked, curious, while rubbing his nose.

"Because then they won't come true if I told you, silly boy! I told you that place is infested with wrackspurts! I bet one had zoomed right into your ear and make your brain go all fuzzy!" Luna giggled. Her voice surprisingly high-pitched as she continued prancing down the stairs, leaving Neville standing there alone in the clock tower.

" But..but…Wrackburps aren't real!"


End file.
